Scholars rate worst presidential errors

[Bala]

By ELIZABETH DUNBAR
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
Saturday, February 18, 2006
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- From engaging in sexual relations with an intern to letting the Vietnam War escalate, U.S. presidents have been blamed for some egregious errors. So who had the worst blunder? President James Buchanan, for failing to avert the Civil War, according to a survey of presidential historians organized by the University of Louisville's McConnell Center.

The survey's top 10 presidential blunders were announced Saturday during a President's Day weekend conference called "Presidential Moments."

"We can probably learn just as much - or maybe even more - by looking at the mistakes rather than looking at why they were great," said political scientist and McConnell Center Director Gary Gregg.

Scholars who participated said Buchanan didn't do enough to oppose efforts by Southern states to secede from the Union before the Civil War.

The second worst mistake, the survey found, was Andrew Johnson's decision just after the Civil War to side with Southern whites and oppose improvements in justice for Southern blacks beyond abolishing slavery.

"We continue to pay" for Johnson's errors, wrote Michael Les Benedict, an Ohio State University history professor emeritus.

Lyndon Johnson earned the No. 3 spot by allowing the Vietnam War to intensify, Gregg said.

Where does Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky scandal rank? Many scholars said it belonged at No. 10, saying that it probably affected Clinton's presidency more than it did American history and the public.



The rest of the top 10 blunders:

-4: Woodrow Wilson's refusal to compromise on the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.

-5: Richard Nixon's involvement in the Watergate cover-up.
-6: James Madison's failure to keep the United States out of the War of 1812 with Britain.

-7: Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807, a self-imposed prohibition on trade with Europe during the Napoleonic Wars.

-8: John F. Kennedy allowing the Bay of Pigs Invasion that led to the Cuban Missile Crisis.

-9: Ronald Reagan and the Iran-Contra Affair, the effort to sell arms to Iran and use the money to finance an armed anti-communist group in Nicaragua.
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Like I said in my prior posts - lighten up - we have survived a lot worse.

Separately, Jimmy Carter not in the top 10??? We are at war with Islam
because of him.

[Secretariat]

There's a lot of things missing here like Harding and the Teapot Dome Scandal. Frankly, Clinton and NAFTA and GW and CAFTA should be on that list. GW's month long vacation after getting the "Bin Laden Determined to Attack in US" memo, and of course the "slam dunk" on WMD's in Iraq.

[PaceAdvantage]

There's a lot of things missing here like Harding and the Teapot Dome Scandal. Frankly, Clinton and NAFTA and GW and CAFTA should be on that list. GW's month long vacation after getting the "Bin Laden Determined to Attack in US" memo, and of course the "slam dunk" on WMD's in Iraq.

This ain't about what you think, unless you're one of the noted historians.

And anyway, does anyone know if a sitting President even qualifies for this list?

Maybe in a few years Sec, they'll agree with you....but perhaps they are being REASONABLE and waiting for HISTORY to tell us what is and what isn't....

[Secretariat]

Also forgot GW's guitar playing and poltical rallies while people in New oOleans were without food or necessities after Katrina - the largest natural disaster in terms of dollars certainly in my lifetime.

[PaceAdvantage]

I agree Sec about Presidents and wasted time....:rolleyes:

Lord knows what kind of good Clinton could have done with all the time wasted getting some oral from his intern. Perhaps he could have prevented 9/11? Who knows....

See how silly you sound?

[lsbets]

I agree Sec about Presidents and wasted time....:rolleyes:

Lord knows what kind of good Clinton could have done with all the time wasted getting some oral from his intern. Perhaps he could have prevented 9/11? Who knows....

See how silly you sound?

I think he's proud of how silly he sounds.

[46zilzal]

Separately, Jimmy Carter not in the top 10??? We are at war with Islam
because of him.
What? what a line of crap

[PaceAdvantage]

Then again, I suppose many among us would not consider it time wasted....:lol:

[Bala]

"....What? what a line of crap...."

______________________________________________

Memory does fade with time. You might like to revisit Jimmy Carter's accomplishments.

Take careful not of Jimmy and the Shah.

http://www.amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oagaq094.php


_____________________________
Outsource congress to India.

[46zilzal]

the power in Iran was put there JUST A BIT before Carter.

In August 1953 a coup overthrew Iran's nationalist government of Mohammed Musaddiq and installed the Shah in power. The Shah subsequently used widespread repression and torture in a dictatorship that lasted until the 1979 Islamic revolution. The 1953 coup is conventionally regarded primarily as a CIA operation, yet the planning record reveals not only that Britain was the prime mover in the initial project to overthrow the government but also that British resources contributed significantly to the eventual success of the operation. Two first-hand accounts of the Anglo-American sponsorship of the coup - by the MI6 and CIA officers primarily responsible for it - are useful in reconstructing events. (1) Many of the secret planning documents that reveal the British role have been removed from public access and some of them remain closed until the next century - for reasons of 'national security'. Nevertheless, a fairly clear picture still emerges. Churchill later told the CIA officer responsible for the operation that he 'would have loved nothing better than to have served under your command in this great venture'. (2)

Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, began his reign in 1941, succeeding his father, Reza Khan, to the throne. In a 1953 power struggle with his prime minister, the Shah gained American support to prevent nationalization of Iran's oil industry. In return for assuring the U.S. a steady supply of oil, the Shah received economic and military aid from eight American presidents.

Early in the 1960s, the Shah announced social and economic reforms but refused to grant broad political freedom. Iranian nationalists condemned his U.S. supported regime and his "westernizing" of Iran. During rioting in 1963, the Shah cracked down, suppressing his opposition. Among those arrested and exiled was a popular religious nationalist and bitter foe of the United States, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Between 1963 and 1979, the Shah spent billions of oil dollars on military weapons. The real price of military strength was the loss of popular support. Unable to sustain economic progress and unwilling to expand democratic freedoms, the Shah's regime collapsed in revolution. On January 16, 1979, the Shah fled Iran, never to return.

[andicap]

hmmm
I would have included Hoover doing nothing about the Great Depression.
John Adams' Alien & Sedition Act in 1798, a little bit of authoritarism most people have forgotten about.
And maybe Millard Fillmore's decision to support and enforce the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
Certainly if you can put Clinton on the list, then Bush for the Iraqi war.
And to show I pick on Dems too I agree about LBJ for Vietnam.
And how about FDR's attempt to pack the Supreme Court in 1937 because it kept shooting down his New Deal polices?
Andrew Jackson's "Trail of Tears" that killed thousands of Cherokee Indians.



Ah there are a million of 'em

How about the 10 greatest decisions?
(not policies, but DECISIONS, there's a difference.)
not in any order

-- Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln
-- Truman dropping the A-Bomb. Saved a million U.S. casualties, many Japanese ones as well and showed the world it did not want another atomic bomb dropped ever again.
-- Jefferson to buy the Louisana Purchase
-- Roosevelt's Lend-Lease Act supporting the British in WW II and his support for D-Day.
-- Washington's decision to avoid all trappings of a monarchy and to step down after 2 terms setting a precedent. Stepping in to end the Whiskey Rebellion and SHay's rebellion establihsing the authority of US government. And his appointment of Hamilton as Sec of Treasury. He set up the modern banking system.
-- Monroe Doctrine
--Eisenhower's decision to nationalize the Arkansas Guard in 1957 to integrate high school in Little Rock over Gov. Faubus objections
-- Andrew Jackson standing up to S.C Sen John Calhoun over the issue of "nullification" in 1832 on the tariff issue. South wanted to be able to "nullify" federal laws which would have destroyed the government's authority.
-- Roosevelt introduction of Social Security

[PaceAdvantage]

I'm quite sure Bush isn't on the list (yet) because history needs a few years behind it in order to make rational judgements.

These are supposedly scholars creating this list, so I trust they wouldn't be so foolish to place a current-event on a historical list.

[Secretariat]

I agree Sec about Presidents and wasted time....:rolleyes:

Lord knows what kind of good Clinton could have done with all the time wasted getting some oral from his intern. Perhaps he could have prevented 9/11? Who knows....

See how silly you sound?

How long BEFORE 911 did the Clinton-Lewinsky incident occur? And how long BEFORE 911 did GW read a memo "Bin Laden Determined to Attack US" did he decide to go on a vacation certainly longer than any Clinton took in his entrie presidency?

The Lewisnky incident, while despicable, was at least three years PRIOR to 911. Are you suggesting that somehow Clinton's indiscretion with Lewinsky lead to 911, but that GW roasting pigs down in Crawford after the aforementioned memo is OK?

:lol: :lol: :lol:

You really do need to read Richard Clarke's books PA. At least give them a try.

[GaryG]

I'm quite sure Bush isn't on the list (yet) because history needs a few years behind it in order to make rational judgements.

These are supposedly scholars creating this list, so I trust they wouldn't be so foolish to place a current-event on a historical list.If sec and lbj were making the list GWB would sweep the top 10 positions.....and he still has 3 years to go...:sleeping:

[Tom]

The Lewisnky incident, while despicable, was at least three years PRIOR to 911. Are you suggesting that somehow Clinton's indiscretion with Lewinsky lead to 911, but that GW roasting pigs down in Crawford after the aforementioned memo is OK?



Hmmm...where was Clarke during the things coming out in the Able Danger hearings...looks like he might well have prevented not only 9-11 but the attack on the USS Cole as well.
You keep harping about the August memo to Bush. Let me ask you libs - why are you guys so blind to the threat islam poses us as a free people? They have already used threats and violence to alter an election Spain, have demended Europe change sovereign laws, have demanded Dennmark hand over the cortoonist so they can be murdered,etc, etc. and all you guys can find to whine about is Abu Grad and wire tapping, and oh my God! no profiling!
Maybe 9-11 could have been stopped by Clinton or Bush, time will tell, but I suggest the NEXT major attack on us is on you guys for putting politcs ahead of security and PC.
You should really read The West's Last Chance - it's hypothetical situations are already coming true around the world.

[lsbets]

Clark had a very long career working for a variety of PResidents in antiterrorism roles. Each time he was promoted the terrorism problem got worse. The more responsibility Clark was given, the worse terrorism got. I see him as a failure, not an expert. He is the Mike Brown of anti-terorism.

[kenwoodallpromos]

I think the worst Presidential error was the current Pres. Bush attending the opening of the Clinton Library.

[JustRalph]

Clark had a very long career working for a variety of PResidents in antiterrorism roles. Each time he was promoted the terrorism problem got worse. The more responsibility Clark was given, the worse terrorism got. I see him as a failure, not an expert. He is the Mike Brown of anti-terorism.

Peter Principle?

[Secretariat]

Clark had a very long career working for a variety of PResidents in antiterrorism roles. Each time he was promoted the terrorism problem got worse. The more responsibility Clark was given, the worse terrorism got. I see him as a failure, not an expert. He is the Mike Brown of anti-terorism.

Well, it's difficult to make progress when you have an administration that won't even meet with you and when they do ignores your advice. Go back and read his book, and how he tried to get Rice to get on the ball with Al Queda. Don't blame Clarke, he warned of this as early as Jan. 2001.

[lsbets]

Well, it's difficult to make progress when you have an administration that won't even meet with you and when they do ignores your advice. Go back and read his book, and how he tried to get Rice to get on the ball with Al Queda. Don't blame Clarke, he warned of this as early as Jan. 2001.

Let's assume for a minute that Clark had tried warning everyone, all along since he started in government about the dangers of Islamic terrorism, and lets assume that he could see what was coming as he claims he did. If that is true, than the guy was completely incapable of getting his message across - not just to Bush, but to Clinton, and Bush I, etc .....

You read his book. He says he warned everyone. Wow! I can't believe he didn't say "I kept getting more responsibility and things kept getting worse. Nothing I did ever worked." I'm shocked that he didn't say that.

Seriously - he was more of a disaster in anti-terrorism than Mike Brown ever was at FEMA. He is the definition of a failure.

[Secretariat]

Let's assume for a minute that Clark had tried warning everyone, all along since he started in government about the dangers of Islamic terrorism, and lets assume that he could see what was coming as he claims he did. If that is true, than the guy was completely incapable of getting his message across - not just to Bush, but to Clinton, and Bush I, etc .....

You read his book. He says he warned everyone. Wow! I can't believe he didn't say "I kept getting more responsibility and things kept getting worse. Nothing I did ever worked." I'm shocked that he didn't say that.

Seriously - he was more of a disaster in anti-terrorism than Mike Brown ever was at FEMA. He is the definition of a failure.

Isbets,

Go to the site below and read the declassified memo to Rice that Clarke sent upon this admin. taking office, and tell me this - if Clarke is a failure by your definition, what does it say about the people who ignored this classified memo?

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/index.htm

[lsbets]

Sec - what is with the man crush on Clarke? How hard is it to see that the higher this guy climbed in the anti-terrorism ladder, the worse terrorism got? Why is it so hard for you to admit that the guy's accomplishments have amounted to nothing compared to his total ineffectualness? Seriously, we know you hate Bush, but seperate the two for a second - Clarke has failed everytime he has been given greater responsibility. For him to hold himself up as an expert is a joke. I've said that every President since Carter bears great responsibility for the escalating problem of Islamic terrorism. Why are you incapable of acknowledging that Clark's career amounted to nothing more than a cruel joke and now he makes his living off the hate Bush crowd who so desperatly want to believe that if Clark had been listened to 9/11 would have been averted? If Clark had been any good at his job, things with Al Queda would have been stopped, oh, around 1995 at the latest. The man is a failure. Plain and simple.

[Secretariat]

Is,

Not sure why you're avoiding answering my question. Did you read the declassified memo to Rice in January of 2001? Check the link above I provided.

"...if Clarke is a failure by your definition, what does it say about the people who ignored this classified memo?"

[Tom]

Perhaps Clarke, Cherrtof, and Brownie could form a law firm together.

They could call it Loser, Loser, and Loser. :p